Nets hold young talent auditions for future halftime shows

Future stars of the stage and screen from throughout the tri-state area came out in droves last week as the New Jersey Nets basketball team held auditions for children ages six to 13 to perform at upcoming home games at the practice center on Murray Hill Parkway in East Rutherford.

Liana Givner of Scarsdale, NY sings "Waiting for Life to Begin" at the NJ Nets' young talent auditions on Jan. 6. Nine of the roughly 60 kids who auditioned last Thursday will be selected to perform during the halftime shows of upcoming Nets games.

This is the second time the Nets have held a young talent search to perform at its games, according to the team's Entertainment Manager Kimberlee Garris. About 60 kids auditioned on Jan. 6; nine of them will be notified by Jan. 15 if they've been chosen to perform. The kids then get divided into groups of three and perform at the halftimes of three upcoming games. Based on the level of applause they receive, three children are chosen, one each from those games, to perform together at the final round on April 11, according to Garris.

Garris was one of three judges, along with Petra Pope, special vice president of Marketing and Community Relations, and Paul Kramas, director of Game Entertainment and Event Marketing, sitting in the small room being used for auditions.

It takes a lot of courage for a young kid to walk into a room full of strangers, sing a few verses from a song with no one there to help them, then walk out and hope for the best. But despite their tender ages, clearly some of the kids auditioning are already seasoned pros.

"Do you want me to sing the whole song or just a portion?" asks Audrey Chu of Manalapan. Then just like on "American Idol," without so much as a CD or piano accompaniment, Chu belted out "On My Own" from "Les Miserables" in a voice that filled the tiny auditioning room.

"Do you want me to give you my headshot?" asks Alexa LaCorte of Hackensack, before confidently singing and acting out the song "Popular" from "Wicked."

One girl, Alexandria Suarez of Union City, already supplies the voice of a character on the popular Nickelodeon show "Dora the Explorer." Suarez sang part of "Over the Rainbow," a song choice that popped up more than once during the auditions that day.

Outside the audition room, a group of four girls received some last minute advice from their vocal coach as they prepared for their moment of truth. Calling themselves "The Heartbreakers," the four girls represent one of the few combined acts auditioning that day. While most kids are singing solo, these four girls will audition together, singing in harmony while one plays the piano.

For Michaela Harrington of Pennsylvania, the 10-year-old pianist of the group, these sorts of auditions are familiar territory.

"I've been singing my whole life," she said as she waited with fellow performers, Madison Hughes, Gina Cole and Elisa Hajeski, all 12 years old and all from Toms River. Harrington recently sang the national anthem at a St. Joseph's University basketball game.

Further up the line the parents of two girls auditioning that afternoon are chatting. Emily Friend of Harding Township and Sarah Jane Byrne of Short Hills, the mothers of Julia Friend and Montana Byrne respectively, met through a network for the parents of children in the performing arts. The two girls, though auditioning separately, have both been in workshops at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

Friend said the trek from Harding Township to East Rutherford comes with the territory.